Retro on the road bike - Essay
Why do people ride old, uncomfortable and comparatively difficult to manoeuvre vintage racing bikes? A few attempts to explain.
It'll come soon, the elation, just a little more pedalling, come on. After all, everyone says that after the load, the release shoots into your bloodstream, the endorphins make your heart expand. So keep going. The pulse hammers in my throat, once again I take my hand off the handlebars, lean down to the down tube, the lever on the right all the way to me. But there's nothing left, the easiest gear has long been fixed. But what does light mean - 42 x 26, that's as light as it gets on retro racing bikes.
Your calves are cramping more and more, the tread is as tough as liquid concrete and, as if in mockery, burning torches border the 20 per cent (actually more like 10 per cent) steep natural path to the left and right through the Brolio vineyard in Tuscany. It looks like the path to a funeral and feels a bit like one too. Maybe push for the thrill? After all, it's called "runner's high" and not "biker's high". But you can't get off, never. At some point, even this climb comes to an end and the pain subsides, even without endorphins.
L'Eroica: A meeting of vintage racing bikes
This was a small scene from the L'Eroica in Gaiole, the annual meeting of retro racing bike fans from all over the world, thousands of whom give it their all on the first Sunday in October over a distance of almost 50 and up to more than 200 kilometres. On vintage racing bikes that are at least 30 years old and must not have clipless pedals, shifting brake levers or internal cables. The rims are fitted with tubular tyres and the bikes usually have around ten gears. The riders should have the muscles of crossers for the pedalling, otherwise they can forget about the large chainring.
Brief crisis of meaning under the crash ring
After Brolio, it's downhill again, and now you only need power on the comparatively cute brake levers. As your heart rate drops, the question of all questions arises - why are you doing this? Isn't it the case that the human species is programmed to make things a little easier for itself? Probably yes. But there are obviously some of us who, even away from the big retro gatherings, are enthusiastic about travelling on slim steel and with a thick gear. Sometimes even in woollen jerseys, with leather shoes trimmed to look old and a crash ring on their head. If you're going to do it, do it.
But again, why? Mark Horlacher from Nürtingen, for example, is fascinated by "the bikes themselves". For the 57-year-old wine merchant, old steel radiates "beauty and elegance". He covers around 1000 kilometres a year on his 1982 Moser Campione del Mondo, including the long L'Eroica edge - 209 kilometres with 3900 metres of elevation gain, half of which is on natural roads.
"Cycling should also be a challenge," says Horlacher, who is also impressed "to feel what material they used to race with 50 years ago." And then there's the "fine sound of the hub", which sounds completely different to the aggressive clacking of modern racing bikes, which he of course also rides in order to be in good enough shape for his two vintage racing bikes. At the end of a year, this adds up to 8500 kilometres.
Vintage racing bikes: Fascinating technology
For many retro road bike fans who are no longer quite so young, the memory of their own beginnings on a road bike is of course also a strong motive for getting back on their old bike from time to time. Thomas Weber from Stuttgart, for example, still has his first racing bike, a Centurion that is now 47 years old. The engineer is also interested in technology. The 67-year-old's favourite bike is a Gios Torino from the 80s, in the original blue of course and with the historic Campa groupset: "It's fascinating to go back in time and feel live how the technology has changed." Weber is an engineer through and through and was responsible for technology and development at Daimler AG until 2017.
For Weber, the modern shift brake levers, for example, are good proof that technical progress can be a blessing. Nevertheless, he always enjoys getting on his Gios, even in a woollen jersey and retro shoes at L'Eroica. "It's always an intense experience," he says, "and afterwards you appreciate the technology of the new bike even more."
Vintage racing bikes - connoisseurs welcome
It can't be memories of her youth that keep architect Senta Hajek from Reutlingen coming back to a Bianchi from the early 1980s. When the bike was built, the 32-year-old was not yet born. In her youth, she rode amateur races on modern equipment. But even then, her father infected her with the retro racing bike virus.
Wilfried Hajek is a friend of Claudio Marinangeli, one of the co-founders of L'Eroica and has been at the start in Tuscany since it began 26 years ago. Daughter Senta has also been taking part for some time. She is fascinated by "the original feeling of having to get through without any fancy dress. Afterwards you get off the bike and say - wow, how did they manage that in the past?"
The charm of retro racing bikes
A perfectly legitimate question. But perhaps this is precisely the charm of retro. Torturing yourself a little, but with the secure feeling that you can activate the feather-light carbon mill again the next day, roll through the neighbourhood with a supple jersey and a gracious gear ratio. It also seems clear that retro also includes the culinary arts. There's no frantically downing a bar of some isobrew in the saddle. There are breaks, during which you can enjoy a glass of wine with some pasta. That's what the pros used to do.
Back then, raw egg and a few official stimulants were added to the glass. You don't need these extras, but retro would only be half as nice without the pleasure - and then probably too exhausting. There are supposed to be sports enthusiasts who see driving a classic car as a kind of antipasti for an official feast afterwards.
However, that's not the point of it all. It's the mixture that makes it: Lots of old steel and a little fine wine - fine.
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Retro on the road bike - Events
>> From a leisurely ride to a tough gravel race: Selected retro events for vintage racing bikes in 2023
